Germany

Since the 1980s, Germany has taken a leading role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Traditionally, all political parties support action on climate change, and the (non-legally binding) short-term national emission reduction target of at least 40% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels was reiterated in the 2013 coalition agreement. Germany is preparing to ratify its legally binding commitments for the second Kyoto period, covering the period 2013-2020.

In December 2014 the cabinet adopted the Action Programme on Climate Protection 2020 which aims to reduce GHG emissions by 62-78 million tonnes CO₂-equivalent by 2020 (as compared to current projections). It comprises nine main components, including the 2014 National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NAPE), as well as transport-specific measures, climate-friendly building and housing, and a reform of emissions trading. A 2050 version of the programme is expected to be tabled in 2018, and will be updated every three years.

The Climate Action Programme 2020 is accompanied by a confirmation that the current government will increase subsidies for energy efficiency measures to EUR 3.4 bn per year (up from EUR 2bn per year). This strong commitment to climate mitigation is partly the responsibility of the Green Party, which formed a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party from 1998 until 2005, when most of the post-Kyoto climate legislation and a phase-out of nuclear power generation was initiated. The conservative parties (Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU)) continued this approach in the Great Coalition with the Social Democrats (2005-2009). The coalition government of CDU/CSU and the Free Democratic Party decided to repeal the phase-out of nuclear energy (by approximately 2022) by extending the life span of nuclear power reactors in autumn 2010, coming into effect by January 2011. The country’s long term mitigation and energy aims were based on this decision; using extended nuclear power production as a “bridge” to a low-carbon future.

However, the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan led to the decision to phase out all nuclear power stations by 2022. The new coalition government formed after the 2013 elections aims to maintain momentum towards achieving the voluntary emission reduction targets for 2020 and implementing the ‘Energiewende’, i.e. the focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy. However, for a variety of reasons including the nuclear phase-out, a decline in power generation from natural gas plants, low prices achieved in the European Union’s emission trading scheme (EU ETS), and to satisfy export demand for energy, lignite and hard coal production has been steeply increasing. In order to continue to meet the country’s voluntary climate targets, plans for a new law in 2015 to limit coal-fired generation have been announced. As yet details on this law are unavailable. It is also unclear as to how this law may overlap with the EU ETS and the Action Programme on Climate Protection 2020.

The key government agency responsible for climate change at a national level is the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. After a restructuring of the ministries in 2013, the Federal Ministry for Economy and Energy took over primary responsibility for energy, especially renewable energy. This division of primary responsibility for climate change and renewable energy is an important structural change as the majority of mitigation activities take place in the energy sector. The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, and policies implemented at the state level also play a role. Federal policies include the Bavarian Climate Programme 2020, which includes the goal of reducing annual energy-related carbon emissions to below six tons per capita, an increase in energy productivity by 30%, an increase in renewable energy in electricity to 50% and an increase in biomass in the production of primary energy to 10%, all by 2020. 

Energy supply

Building on national climate policy programmes of 2000 and 2005, Germany launched its first national climate change and energy programme in 2007 and a second package in 2008. In 2010 the government launched its Energy Concept for an Environmentally Sound, Reliable and Affordable Energy Supply. This strategy included an extension of the operation of its nuclear reactors (by an average of 12 years) and the expansion of energy from renewable sources. However, following the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011, the government reassessed the risks associated with nuclear power, decided to return to phasing out nuclear energy by 2022 without increasing its ambition for energy from renewable sources. In 2011 the government amended the Atomic Energy Act to put these changes into law.

A steady increase in the use of energy from renewable sources is of fundamental importance in German climate change legislation. The Renewable Energy Sources Act (2000), most recently amended in July 2014, remains the most important instrument for expanding the use of energy from renewable sources. This law (as part of amendments made in 2008) set a target to generate 35% of electricity supply from renewable energy resources by no later than 2020.

In line with the Meseberg Integrated Energy and Climate Programme, new instru­ments were introduced under the Renewable Energies Heat Act in 2008, which is designed to foster the use of renewable energy for heat supply. Given that around half of energy consumption goes to supplying heat and for refrigeration, the aim of this Act is to reduce energy consumption by improving energy efficiency, partly through the Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV), and switch the remaining energy consumption over to energy from renewable sources.

The Act on Demonstration and Application of Technologies for Capture, Transport and Permanent Storage of Carbon Dioxide (CCS), transposing the EU Directive on CCS, was adopted in 2012, after a long conciliation process between the upper and lower chambers. The federal regions represented in the Federal Council demanded the introduction of an annual storage limit of 4 million tonnes of CO₂, as well as provisions granting discretionary powers to the regions on the authorisation of CCS demonstration sites on the basis of alternative uses for sites, their geological features and public opposition. Subsequently, the regions that are potentially relevant as sites for CCS have enacted regional-level laws that prohibit CCS on their territory.

At a federal level, the government adopted the Power Grid Expansion Act (EnLAG) in 2009 as well as the Grid Expansion Acceleration Act (NABEG) in 2011 to facilitate a quicker expansion of the grid to enable the connection of more renewable energy capacity. This is particularly relevant for electricity transmission grids transporting wind power from the North to the consumption centres of the West and South. However, actual implementation of the grid expansion detailed in these acts has been slower than anticipated. The revised Energy Industry Act (EnWEG) is also intended to create a stronger foundation for smart grids and storage facilities, with another revision (referred to as the Market Design Act) intended to occur in 2016. The federal level government also enacted a Federal Requirement Plan Act (BBPIG) to help ensure the required grid (overlay) capacities are created quickly.

The government has introduced a package of rules that simplifies the procedure for feeding biogas into the gas grid. The package includes a revised Gas Grid Access Ordinance 2008 and the Gas Grid Fee Ordinance 2008. The Meseberg Integrated Energy and Climate Programme contained a 17% target for biofuels (% based on energy content) by 2020. The legal basis is provided by the Biofuel Quotas Act of 2009. Germany also transposed the European Renewables Directive requirements on sustainable biomass production into national law by means of the Federal Biofuels Sustainability Ordinance in 2009.

Energy demand

In 2012, Germany was the eighth-largest energy consumer in the world and the country relies on imported energy to meet most of its energy demand. About 37% of its total primary energy consumption comprises petroleum and other liquids, with the remainder made up of coal (24%), natural gas, nuclear and energy from renewable sources.

In July 2014 Germany was ranked as the most energy efficient country in the world by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (out of 16 countries studied). The country has a multi-pronged strategy for energy efficiency, such as the NAPE and the Energy Saving Ordinance (EnEV) which operates in the building sector to tighten restrictions on primary energy use and transmission heat loss. An amendment of the Energy Saving Ordinance in 2013 provides for a harmonisation of standards by 2020 for new buildings with the future European standard for nearly zero‐energy buildings. It requires that new buildings will have to be nearly zero-energy buildings (buildings owned and used by public authorities from 2019, all other new buildings from 2021). A nearly zero-energy building is one that “has a very high energy performance. The nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should be covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable sources, including energy from renewable sources produced on-site or nearby”.

Other energy efficiency policies include the 2010 Energy and Climate Fund, out of which an Energy Efficiency Fund (EEF) was established, and funding for the National Climate Initiative (NKI) was increased. Funding for the EEF is EUR300m (USD376.5m) for 2015. The NKI is currently funded through revenues from auctioning emission allowances under the EU ETS, approximately EUR280m (USD351.4m) per year. The NKI provides funding for four major support programmes, targeting climate projects in cultural, social and other public institutions, small-scale CHP plants, industry-grade refrigeration technologies and biomass use. It also supports individual projects such as innovation support, awareness campaigns and diffusion of energy efficiency technologies.

In order to comply with stringent energy efficiency criteria (any products and services procured should have best performance with regard to energy efficiency), the government amended the Ordinance on the Award of Public Contracts in 2011. The Heat Cost Ordinance was also amended in 2009 to foster energy‐saving behaviour among tenants of rented premises. The law for energy labelling implementing the EU Directive on energy performance labels for energy-related products was adopted in 2012.

Amendments to the Combined Heat and Power Act in 2008, 2009 and 2012 increased the percentage share of high‐efficiency combined heat and power (CHP) plants in electricity and heat generation (primary energy use over 90%) from 12% in 2008 and 2009 to reach a 25% share of the total conventional energy generated by 2020. District heat networks will also be expanded. The government amended the Combined Heat and Power Act in 2011 and again in 2012 to strengthen energy production in CHP plants.

REDD+ and LULUCF

The Federal Ministry for Education and Research is funding a number of measures, including the Forest and Climate Fund and the project “Inter­dependencies between Land Use and Climate Change Strategies for a Sustainable Land Use Management in Germany”. This runs from 2010 to 2015, to evaluate the mitigation and adaptation potential of various land management strategies across the major land-using sectors in order to develop sustainable land management strategies.

Transportation

For road transportation, improvements are expected in the statutory reduction targets for CO₂ emissions per kilometre (regulated by EU legislation). Among other things, these include enhanced engine efficiency and incentives for improving electric mobility. Consumer‐side incentives come in the form of revised fuel consumption labelling for private vehicles (Ordinance on Fuel Consumption Labelling for Cars, last amended in 2006).

Adaptation

In 2008 Germany adopted the ‘German Strategy for Adaptation to Climate Change’, followed in 2011 by the ‘Adaptation Action Plan of the German Adaptation Strategy’. The action plan sets out activities at the national level and activities undertaken by the Federal Government that are jointly initiated with the 16 states. Examples include the adaptation of federally-owned public infrastructure such as railways, and a funding scheme promoting climate change adaptation at individual company and local authority level.